Reading is Fundamental-The Origins of Interactional Practice Reading Used in the Drag Community PDF

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Reading is Fundamental-The Origins of Interactional Practice Reading Used in the Drag Community
Takács Attila, Sociolinguistics
For the lecture+seminar class...

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“Reading is Fundamental”: The Origins of Interactional Practice Reading Used in the Drag Community

When RuPaul walks into the workroom and introduces the mini challenge, reading, the queens start to smile, clap and prepare themselves mentally to insult each other like never before. Reading is an interactional practice used in the drag subculture which roots in the game, the Dozens that African American queens carried into the community and it became a symbolic, bonding, strengthening and humorous exchange identically what the Game of Dozens means in the African American community. Firstly, I would like to define what reading is. Different drag queens defined it various ways at different times, but I chose two of these definitions. The first one from the documentary Paris is Burning from 1990, in which Dorian Corey divides shade and reading into two separate items. “Shade comes from reading. Reading came first. Reading is the real art form of insult. (…) You get a smart crack, everyone laughs and kikis 1 because you found a flaw and you exaggerated it, then you got a good read going. (…) If it’s happening between the gay world and the straight world it’s not really a read, it’s more of an insult. (…) but when you are all of the same thing, then you have to go to the fine point. In other words, if I’m the black queen and you’re black then we can’t call each other black queens ‘cause we are black queens. That’s not a read that is just a fact. So then we talk about your ridiculous shape, your fat, saggy face, your tacky clothes (…) Then reading became a developed form where it became shade.

1 A kiki is a social gathering, usually for the purpose of casually “kicking back,” gossiping, and sharing stories. It is historically connected to LGBTQ communities.

2 Shade is, I don’t tell you you’re ugly, but I don’t have to tell you, because you know you’re ugly. And that’s shade.” (Livingstone, 1990) This monologue were infamous for years and used as the legitimate idea of reading. But after 27 years, Sean McKinnon asked Eva Franco, another queen for his research to define what reading means now, which the author edited into a definition and it painted a slightly different idea of the term. “An interactional practice in which drag queens creatively and humourously comment on an aspect of another drag queen that: (a) a target may be selfconscious about; (b) the other drag queens know that the target may be selfconscious about it. When performed by in-group members this type of talk is frequently evaluated as mock impoliteness since its function is in support of building a thick skin for in-group members, who may encounter similar talk from non-drag queens.” (McKinnon, 2017) From this description it is apparent that shade and reading became rather the same term and from this point I will use the modern term for reading containing the meaning of mock politeness (shade). Neither documentaries nor discussions discovered where this somewhat strange, yet community-building interaction comes from, but we sure know that two social groups had great influences on drag queens: the African-American and the LGBTQ+ communities, which cannot be separated, but rather called intertwined. Both of these groups have their similar interactional practices; both shaped and developed together when they connected in the drag community. Also important to state how important role African American women had in the formation of the linguistics style of drag subculture, explains linguistics professor Barrett. Without them, we would examine a completely different drag terminology.

3 “Drag became a linguistic sponge in queer communities of colour. ‘A lot of drag forms started among African American drag queens, which then spread and became widely appropriated,’ (…) ‘African American women in particular were symbolic of a strong femininity, and became a way for gay men to claim femininity in a stance against straight ideas of masculinity’.” (Pandell, 2018) Furthermore, the reason why I chose to focus on the African American community is because their practice dates back to the times when America was found and slaves were part of the everyday life, which we will discover later. To understand better the connection between African American and drag linguistic rituals, I would like to introduce briefly the Game of Dozens, the ancestor of Yo Mama Jokes. The Encyclopaedia Britannica determines the game as the following: “The dozens, in African American culture, a game of verbal combat typically played by young men. The participants match wits by exchanging humourous insults, usually before an audience. Some versions of the dozens incorporate rhyme; in the 1960s those were important to the development of rap. (…) The topics available for criticism in the dozens include family, dress, appearance, economic status, and physical characteristics. The most common topic of insult in the dozens, though, is a person’s mother. (…) The insults often take the form of puns and exaggerated comparisons”. (Flink, Tesch, 2014) The offspring of this game, Yo Mama Jokes, just as Reading is Fundamental in RuPaul’s Drag Race, became popular and there was even a TV show called “Yo Mama”, where contestants must battle with these “Yo Mama” phrases (but strictly with this, in contrast with the Game of Dozens and reading, where everything can be the subject of the insult form the persons appearance to personality traits and in the Dozens, other family members), as the drag queens do in the mini challenge. Also worth to note that both of these exchanges must take

4 place within in-group members, just as reading, otherwise the insults turn from playful conflict to verbal abuse. The Dozens game focuses on in-group conflict and cooperation by releasing anger with dirty words, often played in groups, described as “Artificial Conflict”. ( Thurmon, 2004) As indicated above, reading usually functions as a tool to strengthen each other when facing insults from out-group members, it might be used as tension release in some situations. In RuPaul’s Drag Race, this practice helps to make peace within the group. In season 10 (2018), Aquaria calls out The Vixen for her previous aggressive behaviour towards her fellow contestants: “The villain. I mean, The Vixen”. Just as Asia O’Hara does a few moment later. “The Vixen, you told us from day one you are here to fight. Sweetheart, why don’t you fight some of those wigs with some soap and water?” Using reading as a tool of comic relief, the same happens in Season 9 (2017), where all the queens meet after the show to discuss the season. Eureka O’Hara and Trinity Taylor have an encounter after a season of picking on each other. Throughout the season, Eureka and Trinity had been in a difficult relationship and had known about each other that Eureka is often called out for being overweight and Trinity likes to call herself a fishy queen2. They not only practice the function of “thickening each other’s skin”, but create an artificial conflict to solve actual ones without aggression. Eurika: “Trinity swears she's so fishy bitch, all she's serving is Fisher-Price." Trinity: "Bitch, you look like fish. A whale." Eureka: "Baby! Honey, I'm James and the Giant Peach and not afraid of it, okay?" Trinity: "Bitch, you ate James and the giant peach." Eureka: "Bitch, I thought I was a big girl till your nose walked in, bitch.” What is represented in these exchanges is the change that shifted the Game of Dozens’ vulgar language to a milder, softer use of words and different kinds of figures of speech in

2 A term used to describe a drag queen who looks extremely feminine, or one who convincingly resembles a cis woman.

5 reading. In the past, when racism and homophobia were still highly accepted, drag queens wished to fit into a socially more accepted category, which was the idea of a typical white woman (well represented in the documentary Paris is Burning). In John Berendt’s New York Times Best Seller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Lady Chablis refers to herself as a heterosexual, uptown white woman. (Berendt, 1994). This also refers to the linguistic style, which not allows drag queens to blaspheme too much. This is, in my opinion, where shade comes from, referring to Corey’s description. Softening the expressions, using metaphors and euphemisms instead of direct insults are more suitable for a high class white woman. Although I need to point out that not every swear word is prohibited. Milder, socially more accepted ones (e.g. bitch) can be used and are used. Nowadays reading is almost an equivalent with shade, even though African American, Latino and Asian women also influence drag queens. A good reading is not enough, you need to use your words intelligently. An example for this is Miz Cracker’s read on Eureka O’Hara in season 10. “I know you've probably seen "Dumbo" like a thousand times. But it doesn't matter how big you paint these wings. You are staying on the ground, bitch." In the Game of Dozens, this might be translated to “You are so fat even Dumbo’s ears would keep you on the ground”. Another case in the same season and episode is where Peppermint calls out Trinity Taylor for looking fake. She says, “I'm so happy that we have on loan from Madam Tussauds, RuPaul's statue and miss Trinity Taylor.” In a contest of Yo Mama Jokes, this might sound as “Your mama is so fake you came out of her as a wax figure”. Or may one queen compliment the other while reading to make a contrast with the critique or hide the shade behind kindness, as Trinity Taylor does when she reads Alexis Michelle in Season 10, Episode 13. “Alexis, I love your costume. You look just like a honeybaked ham." This is rather sound “womanly”, what we would image coming from a housewife in the picture-perfect 1950s, speaking in euphemisms, metaphors and compliments, but meaning the exact same what men would say

6 in the Game of Dozens. These unwritten rules govern the linguistic style of drag queens while reading each other. To conclude, reading is an interactional practice in the drag community which functions as a tool where in-group members learn playfully how to deal with verbal abuse from ingroup members and conflicts both with in- and out-group members. The tradition of reading roots in the African-American community, more precisely in the Game of Dozens. Because of the difficult social situations in the second half of the twentieth century, drag queens desired to be a white woman which evolved the game of verbal abuse (reading) into shade. This tradition became symbolic partly because of the documentary, Paris is Burning (1992) and partly because of RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009). The evolution of the practice still in motion, but its community building, strengthening and problem solving function stayed the same since the beginning, only expanded. After all, reading is a fundamental and a binding interactional practice between in-group members that enriches the subculture of the drag community.

7 Works cited Jennie Livingstone, director. Paris Is Burning. Off White Productions, Inc., 1990. (33:40 – 35:45) https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/kiki/ Sean McKinnon. “‘Building a Thick Skin for Each Other’: The Use of ‘Reading’ as an Interactional Practice of Mock Impoliteness in Drag Queen Backstage Talk.” Journal of Language

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benjamins.com/catalog/jls.6.1.04mck/details. Lexi Pandell. “HOW RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE FUELED POP CULTURE’S DOMINANT SLANG ENGINE.” Wired, 22 Mar. 2018, 09:00, www.wired.com/story/rupauls-drag-raceslang/. http://www.jokes4us.com/yomamajokes/yomamasoskinnyjokes.html Nick Murray, director. RuPaul's Drag Race. Netflix, Passion Distribution, 2014. Season 6, Episode 6 Robert Fink, and Noah Tesch. “The Dozens.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14 Mar. 2014, www.britannica.com/topic/the-dozens. Thurmon Garner, and Ronald L. Jackson. “2.3 Playing the Dozens Folklore as Strategies for Living.” African American Communication & Identities: Essential Readings, Sage, 2004, pp. 80–88. Nick Murray, director. RuPaul's Drag Race. Netflix, Passion Distribution, 2018. Season 10, Episodes 7 and 13 Nick Murray, director. RuPaul's Drag Race. Netflix, Passion Distribution, 2018. Season 9, Episode 13 http://rupaulsdragrace.wikia.com/wiki/RuPaul%27s_Drag_Race_Dictionary#F John Berendt. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Random House, 1994. All links listed here were accessible on 21st November 2018....